Muhammad Abd Al Nasir Muhammad Khantumani

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Muhammad Abd Al Nasir Muhammad Khantumani is a citizen of Syria, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.[1] Khantumani's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 312. The Department of Defense reports that Khantumani was born on January 7, 1982, in Halab, Syria.

Contents

[edit] Identity

Captive 312 was identified inconsistently on official documents released by the United States Department of Defense:

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a trailer the size of a large RV. The captive sat on a plastic garden chair, with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor. Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed. The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.(December 2007)Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.
Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a trailer the size of a large RV. The captive sat on a plastic garden chair, with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.[6][7] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.[8]
The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.(December 2007)
Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct a competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status.

Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant.

[edit] Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Muhammad Abd Al Nasir Khantumani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 29 November 2004.[2] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

The detainee is associated with the Taliban or al Qaida.
  1. The detainee traveled from Syria to Afghanistan in 2001.
  2. The detainee's father is a veteran Mujahidin fighter.
  3. The detainee trained at al Farouq training camp in 2001.
  4. The al Farouq training camp was a basic training facility for Jihadists against the coalition.
  5. While at al Farouq, the detainee trained on the Kalishnikov rifle, pistols, light weapons, grenades and the Bika weapons system.
  6. The detainee admitted to traveling through the Tora Bora Mountains in Afghanistan.
  7. The detainee was in Kabul, Afghanistan when it was defeated.
  8. After the fall of Kabul, the detainee fled to Jalalabad and subsequently to Pakistan where he was arrested.

[edit] Transcript

Captive 312 chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[9]

[edit] Testimony

  • Captive 312 testified he had never heard of al Farouq training camp before his Tribunal.
  • Captive 312 described threats, beating, and other abuse, when he was in American custody in Afghanistan.
  • Captive 312 drew his Tribunal's attention to his broken nose -- he testified it was broken during a beating by American soldiers.
  • Captive 312 testified American soldier threatened to kill his family. On two occasions he was told that they had killed his family.

[edit] Legal Sufficiency memo

Normally the released unclassfied documents from captives' CSR Tribunals contained a memo from the Tribunal's legal advisor, where they reviewed the legal sufficiency of the Tribunal's recommendation. Captive 312's dossier is missing this memo.

[edit] Personal Representative's followup comments

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Captive's Personal Representative's were asked if they had comments following the captive's Tribunal. They rarely took that opportunity. Captive 312 had the assistance of Personal Representative 52. PR 52 did take that opportunity.[10]

PR 52 recorded that he or she found that the captive who claimed he saw captive 312 at a training camp was at that camp in April 2001, while captive 312 didn['t arrive in Afghanistan until July. PR 52 had prepared a spreadsheet, where they started to track other captives denounced by the captive who denounced captive 312. They found that the dates didn't coincide for any of those other denunciations either. They recorded that they thought it was a mistake to consider these allegations to be credible.

[edit] Mohammed Khantumani v. George W. Bush

In 2005 43 pages of unclassified documents prepared for captive 312's Combatant Status Review Tribunal were made public.[11]

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearings

Hearing room where Guantanamo captive's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for captives whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal had already determined they were an "enemy combatant".
Hearing room where Guantanamo captive's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for captives whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal had already determined they were an "enemy combatant".[12]

Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards weren't authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they weren't authorized to review whether a detainee should have been classified as an "enemy combatant".

They were authorized to consider whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat -- or whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free.

[edit] First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Muhammad Abd Al Nasir Muhammad Khantumani's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 28 September 2005.[4] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Training
  1. The detainee was sighted at the al Farouq training camp.
  2. The detainee was trained in the use of AK-47, pistols, light weapons, grenades, Bica [sic] weapon system and timed diesel explosives.
b. Connections/Associations
  1. The detainee's name was included in a handwritten letter recovered along with materials linked to al Qaida. The letter included a list of Arabs incarcerated in Pakistan.
  2. The detainee's name was included in a file found on a computer used by suspected al Qaida members.
c. Detainee Actions and Statements
  1. The detainee stated that he hates Americans.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

a.

The detainee was aware of the Taliban and its problems before leaving Syria but said that it had nothing to do with him.
b.

The detainee stated he did not travel to Afghanistan to fight in the jihad but simply to visit his father. The detainee stated he wants to return to Syria to continue his education and complete his mandatory military service.
c.

The detainee has stated that his father was happy in Afghanistan but he wants to go back to Syria.

[edit] Transcript

There is no record that captive 312 chose to participate in his first annual Administrative Review Board hearing.

[edit] Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Muhammad Khantumani's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 29 May 2006.[5] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment
  1. The detainee stated in 1999 his father left his family to go work in Saudi Arabia. In 2001 the detainee's mother received a letter from her husband stating that he wanted the family to join him in Afghanistan.
  2. The detainee state that his family and relatives traveled from Syria to the border of Tayebat, Turkey. They next traveled by sear to the Iranian border, then to Tehran, Iran, and finally to Mahad, Iran.
  3. The detainee has stated that upon arriving in Mahad, his mother contacted the detainee's father's sister to inform her that the family had arrived. The father's sister would then contact the father with this information.
  4. The detainee's father met the family at the Tayebat/Gumbruk border. They then traveled to Herat, Afghanistan and to their new residence in Kabul, Afghanistan.
  5. The detainee states that he, his family, and relatives stayed in Kabul, Afghanistan for several months and then moved to Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
  6. The detainee and his family stayed for one month in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
  7. The detainee and his family traveled from Jalalabad, Afghanistan to the Tora Bora region in Afghanistan where they eventually split up.
b. Training
  1. The detainee has been identified as being involved with al Qaida and having trained at al Farouq. The source also states that the detainee was at al Farouq during late April 2001 and that he trained on Kalashnikov rifles, pistols, light weapons, grenades and other explosives.
c. Connections/Associations
  1. The detainee's name was found encrypted on a computer that belonged to a senior al Qaida lieutenant that indicated that he had received advanced al Qaida training.
  2. Several senior al Qaida members and captured terrorist-affiliated items have positively identified the detainee as an associate of al Qaida.
d. Other Relevant Data
  1. When the situation in Jalalabad, Afghanistan escalated, the detainee stated that his father suggested leaving and that the family try to make it to the Pakistan border. The family split up and the detinee traveled with his father while the rest of the family traveled separately.
  2. The detainee and his father traveled through the Afghanistan mountains and arrived at a village called Parachinar, Pakistan. It is in this town where the detainee and his father were captured and handed over to the Pakistani police.
  3. According to an undated letter, the detainee is listed as a probably al Qaida member who was incarcerated in Pakistan.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

a.

The detainee has stated he has no specific knowledge of the Taliban or al Qaida organizations. The detainee also claims not to have been a combatant in Afghanistan.
b.

The detainee has stated that he has no problems with the United States or any Arab government.
c. The detainee has denied having any knowledge of the attacks in the United States prior to their execution on 11 September 2001.
d. The detainee has also denied knowledge of any rumors or plans of future attacks on the United States or United States interests.
e.

The detainee has denied any knowledge or planning of internal uprising at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

[edit] References

  1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  2. ^ a b OARDEC (29 # 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Khantumani, Muhammad Abd Al Nasir page 51. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  3. ^ OARDEC (15 July 2005). Muhammad Khantumani v. George W. Bush -- Declaration of Teresa A. McPalmer pages 65-66. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  4. ^ a b OARDEC (28 September 2005). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of pages 67-68. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  5. ^ a b OARDEC (29 May 2006). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Khantumani, Muhammad pages 72-74. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  6. ^ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror
  7. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  8. ^ Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials. United States Department of Defense (March 6, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
  9. ^ OARDEC. "Summarized CSR Tribunal transcript", United States Department of Defense, pp. page 51. Retrieved on 2007-11-17. 
  10. ^ OARDEC (15 December 2004). Unclassified documents prepared for captiv 312's Combatant Status Review Tribunal page 107. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  11. ^ OARDEC (15 July 2005). Unclassified documents prepared for captiv 312's Combatant Status Review Tribunal pages 65-107. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  12. ^ Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office, Friday March 10, 2006, pp. pg 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.